Northrop Grumman’s farewell launch of its Antares 230+ rocket on Tuesday marked the end of an era for Russian tech on the company’s launch vehicles. The Antares 230+ was powered by Russia’s RD-181 engines. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the US intensified sanctions against Moscow and rocket technology transfers—including the RD-181—came to a screeching […]
iRocket announced a partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory today, which will give the company exclusive access to a test facility at Edwards Air Force Base and the opportunity to collaborate on its reusable rocket. The AFRL Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) will help accelerate development of its methalox engines and fully reusable […]
Tilebox, a startup building software to host and manage raw satellite data, raised $1.7M in a pre-seed round to build out its team and expand its product offering. “We’re really excited about the space because we see the growth,” Tilebox cofounder Laura Costa told Payload. “The software part of the data management and processing is […]
SpaceX completed the first full-throttle test of its water deluge system at Starbase on Friday, setting the stage for a Super Heavy booster static fire on the new system. “New water deluge system to protect against the immense heat & force of Starship launch,” Elon Musk tweeted after the test. The system: The water-cooled steel […]
It’s not that kind of prime day. Earnings season is in full swing and today, we’re diving into coverage of three primes, including L3Harris’ acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne, Boeing’s Starliner drag, and Northrop’s growing space division. L3Harris 🤝 Aerojet Rocketdyne $LHX announced it will close its $4.7B Aerojet Rocketdyne acquisition as soon as today. “We […]
NASA and DARPA have chosen Lockheed Martin ($LMT) to develop the first nuclear-powered Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) rocket for a demo as early as 2026, the trio announced Wednesday. The contract is valued at $499M, with funding split evenly between the two government agencies. Lockheed Martin will build the spacecraft, and BWX […]
NASA awarded 11 companies a combined $150M to support a next-gen lunar base camp and broader space exploration tech, the agency announced yesterday. The grants, which were awarded under NASA’s Tipping Point program, fund an array of sci-fi-like projects including lunar nuclear fuel, in-situ resource utilization, LiDAR navigation, inflatable heat shielding, and lunar power transmission. […]
Amazon will invest $120M to build out a Project Kuiper satellite processing facility at NASA’s KSC in Florida that will be used for final satellite prep before launch, the company announced Friday. Kuiper: Amazon is building a $10B, 3,236-bird LEO internet constellation. The tech giant has already booked 77 (!) heavy-lift launches, mostly with Blue […]
The emerging fusion energy industry has attracted $6B+ in total investment, including $1.4B raised last year, the Fusion Industry Association (FIA) wrote in its annual state-of-the-market report. Out of 40 fusion startups surveyed by the association, five companies, including Helicity Space, NearStar, Princeton Fusion Systems, and Avalanche, said space propulsion is one of their primary […]
54 years have passed since Armstrong took that iconic step on the Moon, marking an apex in the Apollo program and lunar exploration more broadly. Starting in 1977, however, a 36-year quiet period ensued, with zero lunar landing attempts until 2013, and only six since then. In a sign that the lunar lull is coming […]
The Senate has unveiled its initial ~$25B FY24 NASA budget, roughly maintaining YoY funding levels, but coming in significantly below the White House’s $27.2B ask. The budget plateau results from an eleventh-hour debt limit deal struck at the end of May that keeps non-defense spending flat YoY. The most notable casualty is Mars Sample Return […]
The space world will have to wait a little bit longer to see Vulcan fly. The ULA rocket’s maiden launch has been delayed to Q4 while engineers fix a structural issue with its Centaur V second-stage rocket that caused May’s monstrous explosion on the test stand, ULA chief Tory Bruno announced yesterday. Right of boom: […]
